Jun 19th 2020
Posted by Accuspire
How Does Alzheimer's Disease Affect The Eyes?
Ophthalmologists and Neurologists are researching the relationship between eye tissue and brain tissue for a long time. When we see a picture or something with our eyes, it is carried to the brain and thus we understand things. The optic nerve is responsible for connecting the back of eye to the brain.
Researchers have revealed that when a brain is affected by any disease or condition, the eyes in turn gets affected. This is because the retina and optic nerve actually brain tissues. Dementia as well as Alzheimer's disease causes damage to the brain as well as retina.
Alzheimer's disease is a neural disease. When proteins present in brain builds up abnormally, it kills and damages cells and neurons. Some of the symptoms of this disease are difficulty in thinking, disorientation and memory loss. Depth perception is a vision problem associated with this disease.
Alzheimer is one of the most common dementia which account for nearly 50 to 80%. Other types of dementia are frontal lobe dementia and vascular dementia. Huntington's disease as well as Parkinson's disease also causes dementia. Alzheimer's disease is diagnosed after some exams and brain imaging. But none has the ability to diagnose Alzheimer's and it can be confirmed only after death after examining the brain tissues.
Recent studies have revealed that people who are suffering from Alzheimer show slight change in retina as well as blood flow to the eye. This is found using optical coherence tomography. There is also another Technology known as fluorescence lifetime imaging ophthalmoscopy. It measures the protein present in retina, the same protein which is present in people with Alzheimer. If you are worried about dementia or memory loss, consult a Neurologist.
